I’m a 13 year old girl with insomnia, and I’ve been struggling with it for as long as I can remember. My parents told me that I jumped out of my crib before I could even crawl, and I always got less than the recommended number of hours of sleep for my age group.

In fifth grade, my parents decided it was time to do something about it, as the teachers were complaining about my sluggish behavior and anti-social attitude. The hunt began. Benadryl was too mild, warm milk didn’t work, hypnosis only worked for a week, the treadmill was too stimulating… nothing worked! We had to resort to medication.

Nothing made even a little sleepy. What is wrong with my immune system?? Am I some sort of freak? The only medication that had an affect on me was Ambien. It made me hallucinate; a train set ran around the perimeter of my room while my stuffed animals talked to me and the room flashed purple. It was terrifying, and I cried myself to sleep.

Finally, we tried Trazadone. For the better part of a year, I got a good 6-8 hours a night! The only downside was that I had to take 7 in order to fall asleep, and it was so disgusting that I had to take it in applesauce.

Recently, however, I am repulsed by the pills. Even looking at them makes me gag, and when my parents present me with them I hide them in a drawer and claim I took them. Then I lie there all night. On the weekends I fall asleep around 9 AM, and on weekdays around 4 AM.

I’m so lonely! I hate lying here all night.

Can somebody help? I’m looking for any of these:

1. Ways to not be lonely at night

2. Ways to find my meds less repulsive

3. Other medication I could take

And over all, solutions for tonight!

I kinda had the same problem when I was your age. You lay there in bed wanting to go to sleep but your brain will not shut off. Sound familiar? What I started to do was think about fun things like fishing or walking in the woods. I would try to stay still as I could. I would also visualize sleep creeping up my body. It would start at my feet and work its way up. I now use melatonin as a sleep aid. It’s the natural hormone that your body produces at night to help you fall asleep. You can find it at Wal-Mart or any health food store. Keeping to a sleep schedule will also help. Good luck

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